New examples of manifolds with completely integrable geodesic flows (Q1338866)

In this article the authors extend a method of A. Thimm from 1981 to produce new classes of examples of Riemannian manifolds with completely integrable geodesic flows, including various nonhomogeneous examples. A flow \(\{g_t\}\) on a symplectic \(2n\)-dimensional manifold \(X\) is completely integrable if there are \(n\) Poisson commuting \(g_t\)- invariant \(C^\infty\) functions \(f_1, \dots, f_n\) whose differentials are linearly independent a.e. in \(M\). Examples where \(X\) is the tangent bundle and \(\{g_t\}\) the geodesic flow of a complete Riemannian manifold \(M\) include the classical cases that \(M\) is a flat torus, a surface of revolution, an \(n\)-dimensional ellipsoid with different principal axes (Jacobi) and SO(3) with a left invariant metric (Euler). More recent examples, where \(M\) is a semisimple Lie group with a certain kind of left invariant metric, are due to Fomenko and Mishchenko. Thimm devised a general method for proving the complete integrability of geodesic flows on certain homogeneous spaces, including the real and complex Grassmann manifolds, and Guillemin and Sternberg extended this method. The authors obtain further extensions of the Thimm method. As a first application consider a homogeneous space \(G/K\), where (1) \(\dim G = 2 \dim K + \text{ind }G + 2\) and (2) the isotropy group of \(G\) at some \(v\in T(G/K)\) has dimension zero. Here \(\text{ind }G\) denotes the index of \(G\), which equals the rank of \(G\) if \(G\) is semisimple. Suppose that \(G/K\) satisfies the conditions above, and let \(\langle , \rangle\) be a \(G\)-invariant metric on \(G/K\) such that not all geodesics of \(G/K\) are orbits of 1-parameter subgroups of \(G\). Using Thimm's method the authors show that the geodesic flow on \(T(G/K)\) is completely integrable. In particular, this result yields the new example \(\text{SU} (3)/T^2\), where \(T^2\) is a maximal torus in SU(3). A second application of the Thimm method involves Riemannian manifolds of the form \(Y = X/G\), where \(G\) is a freely acting group of isometries of a Riemannian manifold \(X\) and \(Y\) is given the submersion metric. Work of Marsden and Weinstein implies that \(G\)-invariant Poisson commuting functions on \(TX\) descend to Poisson commuting functions on \(Y\). For suitable choices of \(X\) and \(G\) the Thimm method combined with special properties of \(X\) will provide \(G\)-invariant and \(g_t\)-invariant \(C^\infty\) functions \(f_1, \dots, f_n\) of the completely integrable geodesic flow on \(TX\), such that enough of the induced \(g_t\)-invariant \(C^\infty\) functions \(\widetilde {f}_1, \dots, \widetilde{f}_n\) on \(TY\) will be independent to yield a completely integrable geodesic flow on \(TY\). The authors apply this submersion technique in various cases that include the following: 1) Let \(M\) be a complete Riemannian manifold with completely integrable geodesic flow whose integrals \(f_1, \dots, f_n\) are invariant under some isometric action of \(S^1\). Let \(N\) be a surface of revolution with the standard isometric action of \(S^1\), and let \(X\) be the Riemannian product \(M \times N\) with the diagonal isometric action of \(S^1\). Let \(Y = X/S^1\). For example, if \(M = \text{SU}(2) = S^3\) and \(N = S^2\), then \(Y\) is diffeomorphic to \(\mathbb{C} P^2 \# - \mathbb{C} P^2\). If \(M\) is a Berger sphere \((S^{2n+1}, \langle , \rangle_t)\), and \(N = S^2\), then \(Y\) is diffeomorphic to \(\mathbb{C} P^n \# - \mathbb{C} P^n\) for each \(t\). 2) Let \(X = \text{SU} (3)\) with a biinvariant metric, and let \(U_m\), \(m \in \mathbb{Z}^+\), be a certain 1-parameter subgroup of \(\text{SU} (3) \times \text{SU} (3)\) whose definition we omit. For an arbitrary positive integer \(m\) let \(Y\) be the 7-dimensional Eschenburg example \(\text{SU} (3)/U_m\). The submersion technique is also used to construct Riemannian metrics with completely integrable geodesic flows on the exotic 7-sphere of Gromoll and Meyer and on \(\mathbb{C} P^{n+1} \# \mathbb{C} P^{n+1}\).